


Protector

by itskitsworld



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:41:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27877778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itskitsworld/pseuds/itskitsworld
Summary: Eric is back to talk to Vi, bringing up the topic of her sister.
Kudos: 3





	Protector

Another day, more time in the library. By this time she had gotten through most of the more restricted section at the Academy, which… wasn’t satisfying in the least. There had to be more. She barely noticed when someone sat across from her, lifting only her hand to wave them off. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, and the motion required less effort than words.

“Not even the time of day for your own cousin then?” Eric asks, a poisonous grin on his face.

The blood ran cold in her veins. The fear was there, present and not going away. Her eyes darted about for a moment, but there was nothing to learn from him. She already knew what he was, what his motives were. No knowledge to gain, so the fear remains present. She quickly looked up, and then looked around to the rest of the library. It was deserted. She glanced at the clock. No wonder, it was well past midnight and the library closed hours before, the students that had remained slowly draining out as time went on. Her eyes flicked back to Eric, a hand under the table slowly reaching for her satchel on the next chair, where her spell book was.

He summoned a dagger in one of his hands, stabbing it into the table so much that it splinters. Vi stopped herself from jumping, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “I came here to have a conversation.” He says, releasing his grip on the handle.

Vi glared at Eric. “I seriously doubt that.” She says, but pulls her hand back. “What? Do you want a rematch or something? The answer is no.” She begins to pull the books that were on the table towards her, closing them and putting them in one of two piles.

“No, actually. What happened was a fluke and I want an actual challenge.” The bitterness in his voice was something not well hidden. “No, I actually had a question for you.” A smile spread across his face, slightly crooked, just like hers. She furrowed her brow, she did not realize it looked that creepy.

She paused, before rolling her eyes. “Make it quick.” She says, reaching for a book that Eric quickly snatched up, inspecting the title.

“Ah. Tal’Dorei.” He smirks. “Why are you reading up on a place you’ll never get to see? Is it the guilt? For the diplomat and her whole family?” He asks, a glint in his eye, clearly enjoying this.

She reaches for it, but he keeps it away from her long enough for her to roll her eyes and give up. She continued sorting books, trying not to think about the diplomat and her family. Her vision blurred for a moment, focusing so highly on the task at hand, and for just a second, her hands looked slick with blood, before snapping her attention back to Eric. “Curiosity. It’s where your father was from after all. I’m always looking to learn things, it seemed like a good place to start.” She didn’t sound very convincing, but he wasn’t overly concerned with it, dropping the book back on the table.

“Ah yes. Good ole Otto.” He says, in a grand voice. “Tell me, little Violet, have you visited their graves yet?”

She froze, everything froze, and she could feel Eric’s intense brown eyes burrowing into her. _Deep breath_ , she told herself. “Haven’t had a chance yet. One day maybe.” She says, finishing the motion of putting the book on the pile.

“I went about two weeks ago. They buried our mothers next to each other, sisters together for all eternity.” He says, scanning her intently. “Your sister was there too. Tiny little grave. Lilly Wolfe, born 803, died 818.” The smile on his face was wicked. “Shame they couldn’t have added ‘loving sister’ on there too, but you understand. Assembly budgets. Can’t waste money on the graves of a family like that. You’re lucky they buried them for you, you know? It would have been a shame for them to have to go in some kind of mass grave or something. Maybe even burned… because of the sickness.” He never said anything other than the official story, but every single implication was perfectly clear.

Vi maintained a neutral face through his entire little spiel. “I’m eternally grateful for what the Assembly has done for me. I hope to pay them back in any way I can.” She says, which is entirely true, just not how she had said it.

“You don’t talk about our family much, do you?” He asks, leaning back in his chair, only two feet on the ground. She is incredibly tempted to kick it out from under him, but refrains from doing so.

“I don’t know why I would. I haven’t been close to them in a few years, and now they’re dead, so I’m not exactly going to introduce them to anyone. Do you speak often of your parents?” She tilts her head, not entirely sure where he’s going with this.

“I met a friend of yours the other day, not even sure if they even knew you had a sister, much less the tragic story of what had happened to them. Are you ashamed of your family, Violet, or ashamed you didn’t join them in _sickness_?” His voice dripped with venom, like he was a snake ready to strike.

Her entire body tensed. What friend. What did he tell. How much did he tell. The last question didn’t even register for a moment, before she snapped her eyes back up to Eric’s. The mask cracked for just a moment, but she put it back with tape and glue, it won’t last forever but it will work for now. “I am neither ashamed of myself nor them. It’s just my own personal business that I didn’t feel the need to share.” She says, matching his relaxed stance. “Who exactly did you tell?”

He smirks, and Vi wants nothing more than to just hit it right off his face. “Asier.” He says, as though that is a name she should recognize. At her completely blank face, his fell.

“Am I supposed to know who that is? You might as well have said David, the name means nothing to me. Not that the fact you apparently told a random stranger about my dead family isn't infuriating. No wonder they didn’t know I had a sister, I bet we’d only met in passing.” She rolls her eyes.

His eyes look down, darting slightly, as though he was trying to remember something. “Human. Brown hair. He was reading on the training grounds.”

“There are lots of humans, many of whom have brown hair. Also this is a school of wizards, you find people reading anywhere. Honestly, did you think this would upset me? I don’t care.” She says, keeping her voice neutral and steady. She was convinced anyone listening to her would be able to hear that she very much did care… that she wanted to scream and hide and never be seen again, but Eric was too wrapped in his own mind to even notice.

At her last words, his eyes filled with fury, and then a small smile spread across his face. “Even if you didn’t know him, he didn’t seem to like you very much. And if you don’t even know them… there’s nothing to stop it from spreading around. We all know the Academy has been quite the rumour mill in the past.” He shrugs. Even if it wouldn’t be getting directly back to Vi, Eric was just pleased the information was out there… hanging over her head. “Seemed keen to know your childhood at least.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Vi reaches up and rubs the back of her neck. Her thumb brushes past the collar of her dress, touching the top of one of the scars high on her back. “And I assume you told him all about my father and all that he did, and my mother and all that she didn’t do.” She says simply. She had finally escaped it, there was no one else from her village here and she never had to go back to hear the whispers and the pity, despite no one trying to help.

“Of course. Important points in getting to know you, Violet. Told about your little flower crown business too.” He shrugs. “What was it you two were saving up for again, before your father found the money and drank it all away?”

“Travel.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest as though she could create a barrier between the two of them.

“Right.” He thought for a moment. “Right! You were going to become adventurers, researchers, right? You and Lilly? That was your big plan for getting out of the village?”

Vi looked away, she clearly wasn’t needed in the conversation, he just needed her to hear it to boost his own self. “You were going to learn magic, and um… Lilly was going to be… what was it? Something religious right? Always liked Erathis, didn’t she?” His questions were not questions, it seemed more like he was thinking out loud. “Seems funny the holy one was the one that died. Probably would have been better the other way around. She always seemed more stable than you did.”

“Because I protected her. From everything. She never went without a meal, she was never left alone to deal with her problems, she never had to endure my father. I took it all for years.” She says, her eyes flashing to Eric’s.

“Do you remember when all the fishermen got up in arms because of the ‘pirate’ ship?” He says using quotes, and he was right to. It was a singular boat with someone that had managed to learn control water well enough to attack some of the ships and steal their cargo, they were caught and tried and sent to prison within a month. Vi nods, knowing exactly where this was going. “Lilly got so excited at the idea of pirates, if I remember correctly. Went around telling everyone that when the two of you left, you were going to become pirates. Sail the high seas.”

“She didn’t really know the difference between a sailor and a pirate. Once the idea latched in her head… you know as well as I do then there was nothing that could stop it.” She wants to laugh, thinking back on the amount of times that had nearly gotten her in trouble. But this wasn’t one of those times.

“And then your father heard that one of his daughters was saying she was going to be a pirate. Now I don’t know what happened from there, but I remember you coming to my house with a black eye, bloody lip and a broken arm, Lilly trailing behind you without a scratch.” His chair popped back on four legs, and he leaned forward. “I just have to ask. What happened? You were always her protector, even when things were her fault. What did they tell you that changed that so completely?”

Vi shook her head. If she was honest, she didn’t know. She was so convinced at the time that her mother and father deserved it, that they had been so horrible to her for so long that it was revenge, though at the time she would have said justice. With her sister… no witnesses? Did she resent her after all this time? Was there anything deeper than they told her to and she did what she was told at the time? Or was it that she had wanted… no she had needed the approval of Lord Uludan, the first person that ever seemed to think she could be more than she was, and who took steps to help her get there? She leans back, shaking her head. She didn’t know and had been avoiding thinking of that since it had happened.

Eric shrugs, looking at the pensive look on her face. He had never been great at the whole psychological torture aspect of his job, but apparently, he was quite good at it. Pick a point and just. Keep. Prodding. “Right then. Think on that, I’ll get the answer next time.” He smirks, standing up and leaving the table. Vi shifts her head slightly to watch him leave, then her gaze returns to the dagger stabbed into the table. When she goes to reach for it, her hands touch the metal for a moment before it blinks out, leaving only the gouge in the table.

And she was alone. Just like she had made herself, those months ago. Taking a moment to compose herself, to wipe the tears that had managed to escape since he had left, she grabs another book, opens it, and begins to read.


End file.
